Brgy Ginebra Kings

(also known as Gilbey’s Gin, St. George Whiskies, Ginebra San Miguel, Anejo Rum 65, Gordon’s Gin Boars, Brgy. Ginebra Kings)

Team History:

It was in 1979 when arguably the most popular team in the PBA today joined the league. They were handled by Pilo Pumaren, the father of the famous playing (and coaching) Pumaren brothers Dindo, Derrick and Franz, and had super imports Larry McNeil and Dean Tolson as team reinforcements, along with former MICAA standout Willie Tanduyan. Despite their newcomer status, Gilbey’s managed to place fourth in the 1979 Invitational tournament. In the next season, spitfirish guard Willie Generalao joined the team and dazzled the crowd en route to winning the Rookie of the Year honors. In 1982, the Gins made it to their first Finals appearance during the Open Conference but were swept by Toyota bannered by Robert Jaworski and Ramon Fernandez.

They made it into the 1983 All-Filipino finals but suffered the same fate, losing via a sweep to the formidable Crispa Redmanizers. In 1984, when Toyota announced its departure from the league, orphans Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz and Arnie Tuadles hooked up with the Gilbey’s Gin quintet. With Jaworski and Arnaiz at the forefront, Ginebra's fanbase grew larger. What caught the fan’s fancy was the never-say-die attitude of the team that is reminiscement of the old Toyota team. Despite the tremendous crowd support they enjoyed, success was from far from reach.

They failed to enter the finals in each of the three conferences in 1985, showing only a strong third place finish in the Reinforced Conference, despite having a monster of an import in Michael Hackett who rewrote several statistical records during his time, most memorable was his 103-point explosion in Ginebra’s 197-168 victory against Great Taste on November 21, 1985.

In 1986, they wouldn’t be denied of the crown. They paraded Hackett anew in the Open Conference to pair with 2-time Best Import awardee Billy Ray Bates to form what was believed to be the greatest import tandem in the history of the PBA. The pair produced the first championship trophy for Ginebra. Jaworski would became a cage icon for Ginebra as a coach and as a player, molding players such as Rudy Distrito, Romy Mamaril, Rey Cuenco, Leo Isaac, Dante Gonzalgo and Dondon Ampalayo to become one of the game’s top stars. They would form great rivalry with Shell, most memorable were the 1990 First Conference in which they walked out, and the 1991 First Conference comeback which saw the team literally come back from a 1-3 series deficit to win on a last-second bucket by Distrito.

From 1994-96, they grabbed crack amateurs Noli Locsin, EJ Feihl, Bal David and Marlou Aquino to bring together a new wave of superstars under Jaworski’s tutelage. Aquino’s presence alone generated a huge 30-game improvement from the previous year. In 1998, Jaworski retired from basketball and decided to ran for a senatorial seat. Despite the loss of Jaworski, Ginebra still continued to enjoy tremendous fan following. They enlisted several top notch Fil-Ams like Jayjay Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa and Eric Menk, and later Rudy Hatfield, Rafi Reavis and Billy Mamaril to bring back the Ginebra spirit. Last season, they won the Philippine Cup to trumpet its return to the league’s upper echelons.

Review of the 2006-07 Season:

Philippine Cup: The Gin Kings created quite a stir in the offseason when the team landed three blue chip Coca Cola Fil-Ams in Billy Mamaril, Rafi Reavies and Rudy Hatfield via a mega trade deal to immediately install itself as a favorite to take home the crown. They started on fire, winning 13 of its first 18 games to gain an automatic semis slot. They faced a potent Talk N Text team in the best of seven semis minus star big man Eric Menk who nursed an injury. They trailed 1-2 after three games but came back to win the next 3 games to arrange a titular showdown with sister team San Miguel Beer. In the finals, the Gin Kings would fall behind 0-2 anew, but showed great poise and character in upstaging the fancied Beermen, winning the next 4 games to hand coach Jong Uichico his first crown for Ginebra and 7th overall. Mark Caguioa won the scoring race over Danny Seigle and took home the BPC award. Spitfire Jayjay Helterbrand won the Finals MVP.

Fiesta Cup: After a tremendous start, the Gin Kings took a horrendous slide at the end of the classification phase, losing four of its last six games and denied itself of an automatic semis berth. With prolific import Rod Nealy conspiring the powerhouse Gin Kings cast that was minus Mark Caguioa and Jayjay Helterbrand who were both named to the national team, Rudy Hatfield who took a leave of absence for his wedding preparations, and Rafi Reavis who went down with an injury, the Gin Kings was inches closer to the semis but lost a 117-114 squeaker to sister team San Miguel Beer to bow out of the race.

Biggest Blunders

In the 1995 draft, pre-draft prognosis point to Kenneth Duremdes as the team’s likely selection after Sta Lucia’s Dennis Espino. Duremdes was a star in the amateur leagues and was one of only two amateurs (the other one was of course Marlou Aquino) who made the cut in the RP team pool. Ginebra drafted burly Noli Locsin first overall a year back and a frontliner would have been a glut already in the Boars’ lineup. Of course at that time how could you possible ignore a Duremdes? He had superstar written all over him and should be a cinch for the pick. Jaworski though thought otherwise. The Boars drafted the tallest player in the draft pool Fil-German EJ Feilh and immediately teased arch rival Purefoods who were hoping the seven-foot behemoth slides to them at number four. In Jaworski’s opinion, it’s not everyday you can draft a seven footer. True. It’s not everyday also you can draft a player of Kenneth Duremdes’ caliber. Duremdes would be later be adjudged PBA MVP, was a member of various National Teams, and would be named one of the 25 greatest players of all time. And Feihl? Well, he is still in the PBA record books as the tallest player to ever play in the league.